Samsung and TSMC in Talks to Acquire 10% Stake in ASML.

ASML Holding NV, a leading manufacturer of lithography tools used to make semiconductors, is negotiating with Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. about selling 10% stake to the leading chip manufacturers. In particular, Samsung and TSMC are expected to invest into ASML to accelerate development of equipment that processes 450mm wafers.

Earlier this week ASML announced plans to sell 25% of the company to its leading customers in a bid to speed up creation of 450mm lithography equipment. Intel Corp. has already announced plans to buy 15% stake in ASML by acquiring shares and funding research and development (R&D) of 450mm projects. ASML is currently in talks about selling 10% stake to Samsung and TSMC, according to a report from EETimes that cites ASML executives.

The program, if fully executed, will raise about €1.38 billion (about $1.7 billion) for funding the R&D as well as raising about €4.19 billion (about $5.16 billion) through the sale of shares in the company, according to ASML.

It is still unclear whether Samsung and TSMC will actually invest into ASML as the negotiations are still ongoing. It is possible that other partners, such as IBM or Globalfoundries, will be interested in buying shares of ASML. Still, it is also probable that the lithography vendor will remain with investments only from Intel.

"We hope to have the three companies. Maybe we will have more. Or maybe we will stop at Intel if we cannot persuade the others," said Eric Meurice, chief executive officer of ASML, speaking on a conference call with analysts.